retired_manragh

The offseason

I met with Chairman Thierry Gomez and worked out a new two year deal which seen a 50k a year increase in pay, I was now getting 11k a week which was good enough for me, sure I could of got more at another club, but it’s never really been about the money for me here.

Looking back on the season it was a fantastic one for the club even though we only won one trophy, the French Cup, oh and the Super cup as well at the start of the year it was marred by the disappointment of finishing runner up in the League Cup and the Champions League and a disappointing 3rd in the league, still though it was a successful season for the Troyes football club.

I feel we may never again have such a good chance to win the Champions League trophy but I’m looking to strengthen the team now with that competition in mind, we have already accepted two offer for Jose Alberto Sanchez you just can’t afford to have the sort of disharmony in the team so we are looking at signing Turkish striker Nevzat Onder, we are also going to bolster the midfield and we’ve agreed terms with Lazio to talk to Belgian playmaker Eric Paul. Frenchman Maxime Grange is a central defender were looking to coax back to France as well from German side Hannover, with inspirational captain Sandy Paillot not getting any younger we feel that Maxime will be a good choice for the future.

With all the good results and especially a successful season in Europe we turned a profit at the club in the region of around £30 million, a big chunk of that was also Emerson’s transfer fee but it left us in good stead for the future, the board were pleased and the shareholders were too as £12.5 was made available in dividends to them, another pleasing thing was the board were always looking to improve things and this year the pitch was getting an upgrade with undersoil heating. This Troyes club was really going somewhere.

I got a chance to go over last years Loans and my young nephew Harry Burnie had a good season at Tours playing 34 games in goals getting 8 clean sheets and 3 man of the match awards for an average of 7.15.

Defender Anthony Lejeune didn’t do as well playing only 15 games for a 6.2 average

Young Eric Denis had a learning curve at Nancy playing in 29 games scoring a goal and one man of the match award with a 6.17 rating.

Cederic Amoros had a good season at Gueugnon playing 29 scoring 1 goal, 3 assists and 2 man of the match awards with 6.83 average while Zoran Markovic had a similar season at Tours 30 games 1 goal, 1 assist and 6.47 average.

Striker Yohan Anton had a great season in Germany with Plauen 25 games 11 goals, 2 assists, 3 man of the match awards and an average of 7.28 was the best of loanee’s just shading Landry Lopez’s effort at Troyes 27 games 14 goals 2 man of the matches but a 6.93 average.

Coming towards the end of June Udinese had agreed terms with Sanchez so he was going to be going there for around £5 million pounds in his two years at the club he had played 92 games for 38 goals, 13 assists, 10 man of the match awards and average rating of 7.37, I would of love to have kept him but team harmony is just more important, hopefully new Turkish signing Nevzat Onder could fill his shoes at £7.75 million we were hoping so, Eric Paul also signed for the club for £2.9 million for Italian club Lazio. So far we had failed to come to a price agreement with Hannover for Maxime Grange our latest offer of almost £9 million had been declined, other transfer news had seen left back Aleksejs Romanov agree terms with Genoa, he was moving on a free.

Zak didn’t have the best of season’s with Valencia last year and there was a lot of speculation at where he would be next year, I was hoping he would come to Troyes, although there was some solid offers from Ipswich, Manchester City, Southhampton and West Ham

The 24th of June seen Paul Truckenbrod make his debut for Germany in the 1-1 draw with Mexico in the Confederations Cup, he is going to be a big name in the future, and I feel honoured that he mentioned my name as the one of the biggest reasons he has achieved that feat.

I was a bit surprised when our goalkeeping coach Martin Thomas came to me and said he was going to retire after only agreeing to a new 3 year contract a few months before, still there wasn’t to much I could do except look for a replacement and another Englishman impressed in the interviews, Neil Jackson was offered the position as the new coach.

Sandro’s agent demanded contract talks believing his 23 year star was deserving of a much better contract and with his contract finishing up at the end of next season I was keen to enter into negotiations, well that was until I seen what he wanted, a 400% pay rise with a million dollar plus signing on fee, it was ludicrous and I told his agent so, I offered a more reasonable figure, but it was denied a few days later.

retired_manragh

Pre-season

Pre-season was the usual running, and skills work drills, pretty similar to last year, and once again I let my assistant Jean-Luc Antona take over as I concentrated on trying to build the squad for another successful attempt on Europe. It’s also a good excuse to move around the continent and spend a little more time away on a semi holiday.

The friendly games we play are more about getting some match fitness back into the squad so results really are not that important although it is important not to get crushed as that can have a demoralising effect on the squad, and seeing I had spent a record £27.35 million pounds so far this season, the board were going to be expecting results. I had also desperately tried to get my son Zak to the club but I wasn’t willing to pay the price Villareal wanted for him.

In:
Eric Paul – Lazio – £2.9m: 25 year old Belgian who had good pace, a great eye for a pass, tackled hard and didn’t mind having a crack from range.

Nevzat Onder – Villareal – £7.75m: 25 year old Turkish striker who had a great eye for goal, good technique, great finisher, hopefully a good replacement for Sanchez.

Frederic Michel – Fiorentina – £2.8m: 22 year old right back, great back up for Antonio, super technique and a hard worker, would get his fair share of game time this year.

Maxime Grange – Hannover – £11.5m: 21 year old centre back, highly rated youngster, great in the air, super technique in the tackles, a player for the future, we paid a record price for him and his value would surely go down, but I think he could be record games player for the club.

Nicolas Robic – Celta – £2.4m: 27 year old Swiss midfielder, similar type player to Eric Paul just not quite as polished, would have a back up role at the club but could play an important part if injuries took their tole.

Out:
Jose Sanchez – Udinese – £4.7m: Bit of blow to lose the Mexican, but it was done in the interests of team harmony, we don’t need any in fighting and getting rid of the Mexican was seen as the best solution.

Aleksejs Romanov – Genoa – Free: The 32 year old Latvian wanted more of a role in the first team which I couldn’t provide so he was moved on. 54 games, 0 goals, 4 assists and a 6.7 average

James Stewart – Toulouse – Free: The 20 year old Australian was allowed to leave in the interests of furthering his career, no sense in holding the youngster back and I let him go in part to try and strengthen the Australian national team in the future. 37 games (22 sub) 4 goals and an average of 6.72

Mayala Cerdan, Jean-Michel Premel, Cyril Dacid, Anthony Lejeune and Yannick N’Siabamfumu were all given free transfers, Lejeune played six games for the club and Cerdan managed one.

The friendly games seen us play 4 away games, a 1-1 draw against Tours, a 4-2 loss against German side Hannover, a 1-0 win over newly promoted Auxuerre and a 1-1 draw at English Championship side Preston, not to bad a start.

The first game of the season was the Champions Trophy against Marseille and with a few players still out injured (Sandro – hamstring strain -3 weeks; Peter Cerny – torn hami – 3 months; Raymon Peters – broken leg- 2 months; Antonia – foot - back in training) we were a little in experienced in midfield the beauty though was with the new signings we were not struggling for talent.

Eric Paul, Frederic Michel and Nevzat Onder all made their debuts in the game and all played reasonably well in a close fought game, in the end it was one goal which separated the teams and it man of the match Costa who scored the winner which enabled us to lift the trophy for the second year in succession. A good start to the season for the team and its always good to get one over that favourites for the title this year.

Speaking of odds Marseilles and Nantes were joint favourites at 2/1 while we were next best at 3’s, Lyon 8/1, Lens 16/1 and Rennes 25/1 rounded out the betting.

We had the big team meeting as we always do before the first real game of the year and this was where Sandy Paillot passed the captains mantle onto a deserving Laurent Boulila, Christophe Auguste would be the vice captain this year while Sandy would take the deputy’s role as cover.

My big speech was more on the expectations for the season this year, we were expected to win more silverware and it was a realistic goal, the midfield players would see more of rotation this year in a bid to keep us fresh, we had cover for all the positions so it injuries shouldn’t be a problem, we had real depth this year so our most important goal was the title, then good cup runs, I also expected to make the knockout phase in the Champions League.

retired_manragh

August

A record crowd greeted us at home for a first game against Lens, even though a few had already made their debut last week, this was their true test and we had 4 first time players in the starting line up, Michel, Robic, Paul and Onder. The game itself was pretty even and it was won with a solitary goal, Alexandre’s free kick took a deflection of the wall and wrong footed Neal Glass. We tried to get the equaliser the passing and shots were all there it was just our composure in front of goal, when you have 11 shots and none of them are on target, you shouldn’t be that surprised with a loss.

I didn’t go to overboard after the game, basically said I was disappointed that we had lost at home and we really needed to work on a cohesion a bit more and not trying to force things when we were losing.

The home crowd was a bit more impressed with our efforts in the Champions League qualifying match as we took care of German side Gladbach, a few changes to the starting line up paid dividends as Markovic scored the opener in the 20th minute and then Onder scored his first ever goal for the club just before the break. There was no additions to the score after the break and the 2-0 win was a good result, even more pleasing we Maxime Grange’s debut as he earned man of the match honours in his first game.

A two hour trip to the north east seen us take on Metz and I was hoping the team would build on the good win over Gladbach, and I wasn’t disappointed in the first half as we dominated possession and had 7 shots to none, Markovic gettings his second of the year minutes before the break. The first 15 minutes of the second half cost us 2 points as we slackened off and allowed them to score an easy goal, despite dominating again after this period we failed to score, 1-1 the final result, Maxime Grange earned man of the match honours again, 2 from 2, the 21 year old was proving his worth already.

Sandro returned to training which was good for us after his hamstring injury we wouldn’t be rushing him back into the side as we had the talent to cover these days, in International news Harry Burnie played his debut game for Australia, he kept well from all reports but it wasn’t enough to get a win as Australia lost 2-1 to Japan, Zak played in the game as well earning man of the match in the losing side.

The 21st seen us travel to Auxerre and I was pretty confident beating the newly promoted team seeing we had beaten them pretty easily in the pre season friendly, the manner in which we won though was the pleasing thing as showed no mercy and showed what a quality team we had, 6-0 a record win for us in the league, seen Markovic and Onders both getting a brace while Mehamha and Cost both got singles. Markovic’s goal in the 20th minute will be a talking point as the young Serbian smashed in a thunderous drive from around 35 out, he also received a well earned man of the match. The only slight concern was a toe injury to newly appointed captain Boulila but I was informed it was only a week out at the most.

4 days later seen us travel to Germany for the qualifying return leg against Gladbach, it was a tough encounter which was made that much tougher when Mehamha had a penalty kicked saved while we were trailing 1-0, thankfully we weren’t made to pay and we held on and won through to the group stage of Champions League 2-1 on aggregate. Stand in Captain Christophe Auguste had a great game leading by example and won the man of the match award. Sandro played a touch of 20 minutes and pulled up well.

That game rounded out the month and now we had a two week break for international games which seen quite a few of our players selected in squads. Zoran Markovic came 3rd in the best player of the month awards and also received a prize for winning the goal of the month award for his screamer against Auxerre.

retired_manragh

September

Onders continued his good club form into international success by getting a brace for Turkey in their 2-0 win over Norway, he was the pick of our players who were out on international duty. While a few players were out on international commitments we had a welcome surprise as Raymon Peters returned to doing some light training with the group after his nasty broken leg last year, according to the physio’s he should be back to full time training in 3 weeks if all goes well.

The groups were also drawn for the Champions League and we didn’t get too bad a one with us joining Roma, Celtic and Galatasaray in Group B, I was pretty confident of advancing through to the next stage.

Our league form continued despite the break as we crushed Guingamp 6-0 in front our very happy fans, Onder’s earned the man of the match award for his hattrick, while Costa, Auguste and Markovic all got singles, I think the more pleasing part of the game was the post match interview when the media asked Guingamp manager Pascal Baills about his comments before the game where he said he didn’t think the Troyes team had the quality of players to win the League Title, his comment on the matter was only “I was wrong.”

Michel’s bruised his shin in the game and would miss a few games which wasn’t that big of deal, the win though moved us up to 2nd in the League with 7 points, although positions 2 to 9 were only separated by goal difference.

A tough game out to Gary Johnson’s mob and defending champions Marseille was our next game and I was surprised he was trying to go the mind games so early saying we needed to beat the big teams if we wanted the title and if we couldn’t beat Marseilles then maybe we should set our sights a little lower, I didn’t get drawn into the battle I just said I was more worried about prepping my squad for the game instead of worrying about the future, I didn’t think this game would have a significant bearing in the long run.

Last years best player Portilla was being man marked by our young defending sensation Grange and he did a good job limiting the Spaniards influence to just the one goal which Onder’s got the equalising goal for us. I was pleased with the 1-1 draw and more pleasing was the fact that Sandro got through another 30 minutes without any discomfort.

Back at home on the 14th and I wanted a good performance against Galatasaray in our first group game and I wasn’t disappointed as we cruised to a 3-0 win, Onder’s continued his great form with another goal but it the 2 goal haul to Sandro on his return to the starting line up that was the most pleasing.

Boulila hurt his shoulder in a training session which would see him out of action for around 4 weeks the new captain was having his fair share of bad luck at the moment.

Home against Lille seen us grab a convincing 1-0 win although the score line should have been a lot better, the first half seen us have 65% of the possession with 8 shots none on target, the second half seen us a little more patient and it was Onder’s again who scored, in the end we had 20 shots on goal with only 5 on target, I'm pleased to get the win, but we were pretty wasteful.

The 21st of September is pretty special day as Raymon Peters joins in full competitive training after his injury I can only he can get back to where he was before he had the injury, he had just earned his first cap for Holland when he was cut down, time would tell though, and we didn’t expect anything too much from him early.

I had the luxury of making a few changes for the League Cup game against Sochaux some worked some didn’t, the one that didn’t work was Robic who looked like he broke his toe in the 6th minute of play, he was taken to hospital for xrays. That was where the bad news stopped though as played a real top quality game and came away 4-0 victors, Dos Santos and Gilbert both scored their first ever goals for the club and Peters got through about 10 minutes of game time, he had a couple of scares though being tackled twice in the time but he came through unscathed.

Our next game on the 25th didn’t go quite as well as we lost to Bordeaux 1-0 at their home, we didn’t deserve to lose the game as we dominated the first half, but the second half we probably didn’t work as hard as we should off, the loss moves us down to 6th.

The last game of the month sees the squad travel to Scotland for our Group B clash against Celtic and it only took 5 minutes for us to get on the board, Onder’s cross found Sandro open on the near post and the Brazilian made no mistake. Celtic equalised in the 22nd minute and the were awarded a dubious goal on the half hour from a free kick, Glass was adamant that the ball never crossed the line, but the linesman thought otherwise. We pressed hard for the equaliser and it finally come on the hour when Grange’s freekick into the box was met by Auguste’s head a real captain’s goal. We walked away with a 2-2 draw which was pleasing, as I feel its going to be the away results that will see us qualify or not.

retired_manragh

At the end of September we were sitting in 6th.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Metz | | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 16 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Marseille | | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 14 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Nantes | | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 14 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Sedan | | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 12 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Bordeaux | | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 12 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Troyes | | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 11 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Lille | | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 11 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Rennes | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 10 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Le Havre | | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 10 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Paris-SG | | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 9 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_manragh

October

Another break for international games gave the time to freshen a little but it wasn’t all good news as we had a few injuries, Cerny tore his hami which seen him sidelined for 3 months, while back up keeper Gilles Lecomte sprained his ankle, Gilles also came to my office and requested a transfer, he really wanted first team football which was fair, especially seeing he was sitting in Neal Glass shadow since the Northern Irishman arrived at the club back in the 15/16 season, I granted the request and called Harry back from Tours where once again he was having a reasonably good season with 11 games for 7.27 average.

Our first game for the month seen us grab a hard fought away win against Niort, Sandro converted a penalty in the 31st minute after Onder’s was brought down in the box. Niort equalised on the hour but we re took the lead 5 minutes later, a good cross was turned into their own net by the Niort defence, from there the score didn’t change and we grabbed the 3 points 2-1.

Our Group B at home against Italian side Roma seen a good close first half with both teams having some good chances, the second half seen us take control of possession and chances but a sensational effort from the Roma keeper seen the score remain nil all at the finish, there was no surprises for man of the match Ochoa easily gaining the award with some great second half saves.

Next up was a home game against 5th placed Paris SG and we played a good solid game but luck just didn’t go our way, as we were once again thwarted by some great keeping, Sandro injured his knee in the game which seen Mehamha come on and he had a chance to get the winner in the 83rd minute, but Paris keeper Samuele Catalano made a brilliant diving save, just one of the reasons he won the man of the match award.

Turkish international Nevzat Onder’s seemed to have a little difficulty fitting in the area and just settling down despite his good form so far, so before he came to us officially we made enquires in getting someone to come to the club who could help with that, in the end we offered 39 year old Unal Gokhan a job as a coach at the club, we were hoping he could help his fellow countrymen settle down a little bit easier.

We had a good 1-0 win against Nice in the 3rd round of the league cup which seen my nephew Harry make his debut for the club, Peter’s also started his first game since his injury and Sergio also started his first game for the year, having the bigger squad certainly helped with keeping players fresh, just made it harder to keep them happy.

Our last game for the October seen me absolutely furious with the team and they copped a fair old pasting in the away changerooms after our 1-0 loss to Valenciennes, we were dreadful all day and showed no fight, even after we went down early in the game we showed no urgency.

The monthly board meeting didn’t go to badly, they were a little concerned that we were in 8th place although we did have a game in hand and it was still early days.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Nantes | | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Metz | | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Lens | | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 7 | +6 | 20 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Marseille | | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 19 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Paris-SG | | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 19 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Lyon | | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 5 | +8 | 17 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Le Havre | | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 17 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Troyes | | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 15 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Sedan | | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 13 | +3 | 15 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Rennes | | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 15 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_manragh

November

I was really pleased with how the team responded to my less than flattering words of them at Valenciennes 3 days earlier when we travelled to Italy for the clash against Roma in the Champions League, everyone gave 100% which is all I can ask and as a result we pulled off a great upset winning 2-1, Glass was brilliant in goals and took home the man of the match award, while Markovic and Peters ended the game with our goals. The win pretty much secured our berth into the next round.

Over the next two weeks we had games postponed here and there through various reasons, mostly internationals and we didn’t play our next game until the 20th of November which was 18 days after the Roma game. With Sandro and Hardy back in the line up and the long lay I was pleased to see us play with the same intensity we had in the Roma game, a solid 2-0 win, Sandro and Truckenbrod with the goals.

Yet again a torn muscle seen another player out injured, this time it was Markovic and a groin was the muscle in question, 1-2 months on the sidelines, it’s time like these I'm glad we have a few extra players to cover spots.

Our trip to Turkey to take on Galatasaray was disappointing in that we came away with a loss, but that wasn’t down to lack of effort from the players we had pretty much dominated all day but it just a brilliant performance from their keeper Ali van de Berg who won the day for him, he saved shots from every where just getting fingertips here and there and saving powerful shots from 5 yards out it was unbelievable. It took a 20 yard thunderous drive from Auguste to give us the lead in the 29th minute but from their as I said their keeper allowed nothing in, while they scored two good goals to give them the win.

A 0-0 home draw against Lyon against saw our team frustrated beyond belief by another fantastic performance in goals from their keeper, Sandro succumbed to another hamstring injury in the 10th minute of play, it was a re-occurrence of the same one he did in July.

retired_manragh

December

News hit around the world that Manchester United had sacked manager Roy Keane after 4 years in the job where he brought a English premier league title to the club in 2018 and a FA cup in 2021, he also seen them to runner’s up trophies in the 2018 and 2020 Euro Cup. I tended my application for the job. I think the interview went pretty well, speaking with the board and they were impressed with resume so to speak and what I had done at Troyes although this year after spending so much money on players and not getting the results I don’t think went to favourably, still I feel I have a pretty good chance.

Media speculation of my position at Troyes was all the rage in the French media once it was learned I had had talks with United, as you can imagine it didn’t have a real positive affect on the board, but I had told chairman Thierry Gomez that I had applied for the position before the media circus got wind of the situation, still he wasn’t to happy.

Our first game for the month seen save after save made by Sedan keeper Nico Adami and it looked like being yet again another of those days where we dominated but had no reward, that was until the 58th minute when Captain Laurent Boulila hit a nice free kick over the wall from around 25 out to give us the lead. We held out until the 83rd minute where we conceded a soft goal to see Sedan tie up the game both fullbacks Yahia and Antonio had a pretty average games.

I didn’t have to wait to long before the news came out the Michael Laudrup had been given the job at United, I must admit it was a pretty big blow to my ego as I thought I was clearly a better manager then the Danish legend, and my credentials and record was a lot better, maybe it was the fact that I hadn’t tried to advance my career while at Troyes, I must admit I’m feeling a little dejected about my career at the moment, but life goes on I suppose.

I asked captain Boulila to call a team meeting to discuss our very average form so far in the year, although there was a lot of speculation about my career at Troyes I still believe I have the respect of the players and so far this year our average results had a lot to do with some great efforts from the opposition keepers, but we were letting in a lot of soft goals under pressure which was worrying, I wasn’t present for the meeting but when Laurent came back to see me a day later he said the meeting went real well and everyone was committed to seeing us climb back up the table.

A home game against Toulouse should have been an easy victory against a team that was struggling but when their keeper made a few outstanding saves early it sort of knocked the confidence from the team, it seen us try and knock goals in for long range which played into Toulouse’s hands as our shots on target to shots ratio became steadily worse, even a talk at half time to steady them a bit didn’t help nor did the tactics of Toulouse who were playing 10 behind the ball at most times. 93 minutes and 33 seconds on the clock seen our luck change, vice captain Auguste cut inside from his run down the right and a powerful curling effort finally seen their keeper unable to get to it, a last ditch 1-0 win seen the players celebrate wildly. 16 shots we had in the game with only 4 on target, that could be contributed to the fantastic early saves from their keeper and then the ultra defensive tactics of the opposition manager, in the end though we got a well deserved win.

Our last Champions League group game was against Celtic at home and we dominated the first half with 17 shots with 9 of those on target and a 61% possession count, and unbelievably their keeper was again playing out of his butt, it was a bit of Eric Paul magic that let us equalise on the cusp of the half time break when Celtic had scored with their second shot of the day in the 36th minute.

The second half was more of the same we peppered their goals but time and time again we were denied and when Celtic scored from a BS penalty, I thought it would demoralise the players, but to their credit they pushed on and in the 84th minute we were finally rewarded when Onder’s put one away, the draw seen us knock Celtic out of the cup, the win would of seen them qualify at Roma’s expense.

The World Cup group draw’s were made, the Cup in Italy this year would see Australia watching from the sidelines as we failed to qualify for the first time since 2002, it was a disappointing effort especially for Zak who at 32 I doubted would be around for another one.

Away at Le Havre was our next game and win against this team who were one spot ahead of us in 5th would move us to 3rd in the tables and things were looking good when we took the lead in the fourth minute, Le Havre equalised on the half hour, but we again took the lead just after the break. Auguste was sent off after a second yellow in the 67th minute and we held on valiantly but a heartbreaking equaliser in the 93 minute seen us walk away with a point and remain in six place.

A flu ripped through the club’s youth team and both Costa and young Harry caught it and would miss our cup game against Le Havre who we had just played, this time though it was at our home, the game wasn’t as exciting as the last game but the result was definitely better as we managed to grab a well deserved 1-0 win to move us into the semi finals.

It had been a stressful year so far so I was happy to get away for a weeks holidays, me and Jo shot down to the French Riviera for some well earned relaxation time.

retired_manragh

The European Group stage
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Troyes | | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 9 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Roma | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 8 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Celtic | | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 7 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Galatasaray | | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 6 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

The World Cup Groups


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Argentina | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Zimbabwe | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Mexico | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Ukraine | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Brazil | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Jamaica | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | South Korea | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Croatia | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Czech Republic | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Saudi Arabia | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Cameroon | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Spain | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Japan | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Sweden | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Germany | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Uruguay | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Italy | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | U.S.A. | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Paraguay | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Holland | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Colombia | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Togo | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Russia | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Switzerland | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Iran | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | France | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Denmark | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Guinea | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | England | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Algeria | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | China | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Turkey | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_manragh

January

The start of January again seen Zak’s name speculated about and with Villareal dropping their price to under a mil, it seen a frenzy of teams vying for his signature, of course we put in our bid and I feel we have the inside running.

An easy 2-0 win over minnows Aurillac in the 9th round of the French cup seen Dos Santos score his first goal in a while, and seeing the delight on his face made me realise that I was probably holding him back, he really needed more game time to develop and it wasn’t somethings that I could give him a lot of, so after talking with the young lad we decided to see if we could find a team where he would get more game time, he was pretty happy with the talk we had discussing his future and thanked me for looking out for his future.

We let a game slip against League leaders Nantes on the 12th when we took a 2-0 lead at their home, but they slowly worked their way back into the game and at the end of 90 it was 2-2, I was disappointed to draw the game but if you had of offered me a 2-2 draw at the start I would of taken it.

Sedan were pretty keen to get Dos Santos to their club and promised that he would see more first team action so we let him go to our rivals on a free transfer, I wished the young striker all the best at his new club.

We also had our offer for Zak accepted so we offered him a contract that matched his agents wants and needs, talking with Zak though he seemed a little worried at the increasing speculation about my future at the club that had never really gone away since I applied for the United job a month back, he said the only reason he would come to Troyes would be because of me, so he needed some sort of guarantee that I would be here for the length of his contract which was a 2 year term, I couldn’t give him an absolute guarantee, it’s not something I could do.

I think Zak made his mind up when we drew with Sochaux at home, we had managed to concede a goal to the 10 man side late in the game which seen me lambast the players for their disgraceful effort in the second half, the draw also increased the speculation about how much longer the board would keep me on in the French press. One good thing to come out of the game was that Costa scored his 50th league goal for the club.

Zak decided to return to Italy and play with Fiorentina, he rang me before he made the decision official, I'm disappointed but I can understand why he made that choice.

Personally I'm finding it real hard to get motivated for games these days but I keep up appearances and I'm my usual self before the players but the thought of retiring now looms large on my mind, or atleast taking some time off.

Nantes come to Troyes for the League Cup semi final and we outplayed our more fancied rivals but after 90 minutes and then extra time no team could find a goal so it came down to the dreaded shoot out, which we managed to win 4-2, the win would see us move to our second successive league cup final and funnily enough it was going to be a replay of last years as we took on Lyon.

2 good wins, first a 3-2 win away over Angers seen us progress to the 11th round of the French cup and then a sensational 3-1 win away at Clermont in the league seen us move up to 5th in the league, the win against Clermont seen us 8 matches unbeaten but it was also our first win in the league since Toulouse on the 4th of December, considering it was now the 26th of January it wasn’t actually the best of stats.

Our last game for the month on the 30th seen us host surprise packets Metz who were playing above all expectations so far in the league and were sitting in second place, and we did more than enough to get a win, but again it was the brilliance of the keeper that denied us as he stopped shot after shot, a pity that our keeper didn’t have the same effect as at first we went 1 down then it was 2 and then it was pretty much game over then, we did manage to score a consolation goal in the 81st minute but the 2-1 loss at home pretty much killed our slight chance of challenging for the title, we slipped down to 8th place although we did have a game in hand.

Before the month was out we sent Harry back to Troyes as Lecomte asked to come off the transfer market, he wanted to help the team and was prepared to wait for a chance, it also might be because of Neal Glasses form this year, although it was decent it wasn’t superb so maybe he sensed a chance, I hope he did because it could only bode well for me if he improved his efforts at training and forced himself into the team.